Max the Wonder Dog

Max down at the holler. full HD here

Not a lot happening today other than it was cold all day.  Was supposed to get up to 43 F but the highest I saw here at the house was 37 F.  Anyways, thought I might introduce Max the wonder dog.  We got Max only a few months ago when he was 3 months old and 30 lbs.  He is now just over 5 months old and weighs about 55 lbs.   Max is a mix breed, his dad was half German Shepard and half Alaskan Husky, his mom was a full blooded Black and Tan.  We got him from Safe Haven, a volunteer animal rescue operation.  He is our first house dog.  He is pretty well behaved for a puppy and I have been surprised at how he has not chewed up the furniture or my shoes.  We do not allow him on the furniture but here recently he has developed a habit of backing up to the couch and throwing one leg up on it and leaning on it like he is sitting down. Here he is pretending to sit on the couch.

And this one turned out a little blurry but you can see the other leg in it. It's the white patch on the red throw.

A Precious Gift - Guard it Well

The preacher where I worship (Brother Mark) told a story in his sermon last Sunday that has stuck with me so far this week...which is kinda unusual in itself....I kid.  Anyways, at church tonight I asked him if  he minded me sharing the story.   He was fine with it.  The lesson was taken from James chapter 2 about how we are to treat or fellow man and how we often have our own little clicks and like to stay in our comfort zone. To illustrate how we often show more respect to people we know he told how his son (age 5) was at preschool when one of the fathers came in and shared what he does for a living with the children.  Apparently this guy fished for a living.   After the class the father was talking to the children when Mark's son piped up that his dad could catch more fish than he could.  He also offered that his dad had caught a shark before.  Now Mark is a good fisherman (or at least to here him tell it he is) but I do have my doubts that he could out fish this guy.   You see, the dad talking to the children was non other than Chris Lane, the 2013 Bassmaster Classic Champion.  I also see one more valuable lesson to be learned from this story.  Children think their parents are the be all end all of just about everything. Unfortunately, this usually only last up until about the time they hit the teenage years. But, during this time, we, as parents should be extra diligent to lead our kids by being a good example. They are watching our every move and hearing our every word.

Another Bargain...

JCP  Down Puffer Jacket

 I had to make a trip into Scottsboro this afternoon and the wife said she needed to stop by JCP if we had time.  Being the awesome husband that I am I said sure honey!  Anyways, while she was looking for the shirt she went in to look for I browsed the men's section.  I noticed some down jackets on clearance, marked down from $60 to $20.  Now I need another down jacket about like I needed another pair of boots (see post earlier today for explanation) but if they had 2 in my size I think I might have bought 2.  I liked the orange color better but they only had them in L, M and Sm.  They had 2 blue ones, a M and an XXL.  I really probably needed an XL but the XXL is not all that big on me.   It weighs next to nothing and packs down really small.  I cant vouch for the quality of the jacket but it is filled with 650 down so that in itself is promising. I've already worn it outside a few minutes and it is warm.  Not that it is all that cold out right now but it is 50 F and the wind is howling.  On the left is the jacket in the provided stuff sack.  It would pack down even smaller but I actually don't like to compress my down items any more than I have to so I am pleased with the generous size of the stuff sack.

Bargain Shopping Online

Online shopping can reward you with some great bargains, and if you don't live in town you save gas by not having to drive into town, not to mention the fact that often times the item you are shopping for is not available locally.    I am guilty myself but I try to heed one word of advice.  OK more than one word but it goes something like this, It's not a bargain if you don't need it. Having said that, I needed another pair of boots about like I need another hole in my head but I recently ordered a $300 pair of boots for $40. Specifically, LAPoliceGear had the Bates USMC Rat boots on clearance because they lost their contract with the military.  I should also mention that they don't gaurentee the boots are imperfect but than again they may be.  Here just read all the details yourself.  They still have them if your interested. http://www.lapolicegear.com/co-bates-29502-usmc-rat.html

But this was going to be about online bargain shopping. My first tip is to use the google shopping tool. If you are on the Google search page you will notice that you can search the web for images, maps, shopping etc  Just try the shopping tool.   However,  having said that, they often don't find the best deals, and here is where it pays to do a little legwork (if you could call it that).  For instance, using Google Shopping,  the boots I just bought came up for $66 bucks on one site only and then went up in price.  I actually found the deal while looking for a holster but just to show how it works, the $40 deal I found was not listed using Google Shopping.  However, using the plain old Google web search using the exact same term (Bates USMC Rat Boot) the LA Police Gear deal came up as the second search result.

Another tip is to go to several sites and look at each one for clearance items.  This can take awhile but it will often lead to a good bargains (and buying stuff you really didn't need).  For outdoor camping and backpacking stuff I'd recommend looking at  REI, Sierra Trading Post, Campmor etc.  For more hunting and fishing oriented outdoor stuff I like The Sportsman Guide, Bass Pro Shop, Cabelas etc.  For bike related equipment I found that MTBR actually has a page called Hot Deals that is regularly updated.   I also like to get on BentRiderOnline and check out the sponsors banners.  They also have a classified section in the message board which is a great place to shop for used recumbents and accessories.  BTW, I have a Bacchetta Cafe listed on the site right now. I have had tons of interest but so far no takers.  All the interested parties have been some distance away with one even being from overseas and shipping cost are not cheap on a recumbent.

Another tip is, before hitting the submit order button look for a little box that says coupon. Then go to retailmenot (my favorite source for coupon codes) and see if you can find a discount coupon.  Often times, the item you order (especially on sale and clearance items) will specifically say that no additional discounts are allowed, but I have often been able to get an additional percentage off.  Sometimes there will be several codes listed for the same or different offers.  For example, when I ordered the boots (along with a couple of other items also on clearance) I tried the save $45 and free shipping one but it would not take it.  I did use one of the several 5% off codes listed and was successful.  I saved $5.65 but paid $16 for shipping.  I always look for free shipping when possible. However, do the math before getting all giddy about the free shipping. If the savings are big enough the shipping cost is justified.

Sometimes it is better to buy at a "brick and mortar" store because buying online is a little risky in the fit department (especially with pants and shoes).  At least be sure and check to see the return policy before ordering. Often time the clearance items will be sold as is and with no return option.  And even with a generous return policy, you often have to pay a restock fee or at least the return shipping (which is only fair).  This is one reason it is good to go with a well established retailer. They will not (or maybe I should say will be less likely to) risk their reputation with shady dealings like some fly by night companies might.

One last tip and I'm done.  I'm not here to give advice on how to safely shop online so just be careful.  I will say that I try to shop from sites that are well known and use some sort of SSL encryption for online purchases.  When you go to the checkout page you should see https instead of just plain http.  Have fun shopping and remember, to have patients waiting for your items to arrive.  I ordered my boots over 2 weeks ago but due to one item being out of stock my whole order got delayed by a week.  I just got an email the other day stating that the item had arrived an my order was being filled. 

PS: I'm sure that you ladies did not get much from my little spill.  I'm also sure that you don't need it.  My wife can sniff out a bargain a lot faster and from farther away in her sleep than I could wide awake and with the most powerful online shopping tools ever created.

Sit/Stand Longevity Test

I subscribe to a couple of health oriented newsletters and my favorite by far is Dr Mercola's Peak Fitness.  He discusses diet and exercise and he also sells several products.  Due to the selling aspect I do use a little skepticism when reading his advice.  However, just because he is selling something doesn't necessarily mean the advice or products are suspect.  A recent article he posted was about something I had never heard of before and I thought it was pretty neat.  It discusses how some Brazilian researchers had made a connection between a simple sitting/standing test and longevity.  He is not vouching for it but did say it was interesting and a pretty good way to gauge fitness and overall health.  The test was for 6 years so I assume it was conducted 6 years ago and the statistics are from then until now. The test begins by simply standing in front or even on a small mat in an open area of floor.  Try to sit down and then stand back up without using your hands, knees or elbows etc for assistance.  You deduct a point for each area that you use for assistance.  For instance, a hand to the floor during the sitting phase and then a hand on the floor plus a hand on a knee during the standing phase would results in a loss of 3 points or a score of 7.  You lose an additional half point for an unsteady execution during either the sitting or standing phase.  I have no idea how many participated but here are the results they observed.

• Those who scored 0-3 were 6.5 times more likely to die during the study than those who scored 8-10
• Those who scored 3.5 to 5.5 were 3.8 times more likely to die
• Those who scored 6 to 7.5 were 1.8 times more likely to die

I took the test myself and scored a 7.5, at least that's the score I think I got. I deducted 2 points for a hand to the floor during both sitting and standing and a half point due to being a little unbalanced as I stood back up.  I have the video of my test uploaded above but you can view it in HD by clicking here.   You can decide for yourself if I gave myself a fair score.  Oh and BTW...there are no point deduction for grunting.  A niece and 2 nephews were visiting and of course they wanted to star in my video.  In order of appearance they were 9, 7 and 5 (almost 6).  I'm proud of them but also a little jealous that all 3 got a perfect score of 10.  I am also proud of my wife who also took the test but refused to be filmed.  She scored higher than I did with a 9.  She sat down with ease but did have to place one hand to the floor to get back up.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The company I work for just recently switched insurance providers and as part of the switch, they had all employes participate in a health screening. I had had my blood work done myself a year prior as part of the big 50 checkup.   I had had some blood work done in 2008 at my wife's insistence.   The good news is, my Triglycerides were better today than in 2008.   The bad new is, both were worse than in 2012 (by quite a bit).  My HDL levels were good all three times.  So what did I do prior to my blood work in 2012 that gave me the much better numbers. I ate paleo for about a month before the test. I only learned about this most recent screening  about a week ago and have actually not been exercising much due to the cold rainy weather.  Well that and the fact that I have been eating way too much junk food recently.  Here are the numbers by year.

Cholesterol 2008 =  230, 2012 = 214, 2013 = 238  BTW good is 200 or less.
HDL  2008 = 46, 2012  = 44, 2013 = 46  30 to 70 is normal but above 40 is considered better
Triglyceride 2008 = 478, 2012 = 293, 2013 = 457

I know I need to start eating better and also be a little more consistent with my exercise program.  I would like to see the BMI and Triglycerid numbers drop a lot.  I'm not as worried about the Cholesterol.  My BMI was 35 and I'd like to see that drop down to 30 or slightly less.  Loosing 35 lbs would do it but I could stand to loose about 50 lbs.

The Holler

I over did it on the Bumble Beast yesterday and my knees are letting me know, so today I have been lazy.  I wanted to take a quick walk to the holler but just did not feel up to it. So instead I will just share a few of photos of the holler during different time of the year.  Oh and BTW, it is beautiful year-round so I will take and share more holler photos in the future.  I have hundreds already and it was very hard to pick just a few, but hopefully these are good ones.  And in case you git lost, I put the description under each photo,  You can also click on a photo for a larger image.

I took this photo of the small waterfall above the swimming hole (not right at the swimming hole) about a week ago.  It was about 32 F at the time I took it and that made it look steamy.

This is the same waterfall right after a big rain.

And the same waterfall last summer, I had just gotten my Olympus Pen camera and was trying it out.

   Yep, same waterfall, only this time it was really cold. This was a couple of years ago.

 OK, one last on at this particular waterfall.  Some guy got in the way of my shot...

This is the waterfall at the swimming hole.  It may look warm and inviting but believe me, that water is like ice!

One of my favorite spots along the creek.

My daughter goes with me occasionally. I enjoy her company but that's my jacket...

And for good measure, a leaf I photographed a couple of years ago while hiking down to the holler.  BTW, this photo was taken with a used Olympus Verve camera I picked up at Unclaimed Baggage for $35 bucks, but it goes to show, a small camera can take decent photos.

Caution - Genius At Work

I'm sure that by now y'all may be feeling about the Bumble Beast similar to the way Earnest T felt about Romena talking about the weather... Well too bad, I'm gona talk about both anyways.   I could hardly wait for it to warm up enough for a good ride on the Bumble Beast this morning.  But as discussed yesterday, I needed to mount the 26 x 2.1 Maxxis Aspen.

Maxxis Aspen 26 x 2.1 MTB tire

 It was 32 F at 6 AM so the first thing I did was pull the tire off my bent and bring it and the new tire in from the garage to the house to let them warm up a little.  After waiting a little over an an hour I swapped the tires.  But before I did anything I measured the height of the Maxxis Larsen  26 x 2.35 tire inside a door jamb (kinda like folks measure their kids...).  It stood at 27 /3/8 inches tall.  After mounting the Maxxis Aspin 26 x 2.1 I took another measurement on the wall and this time I got 26 5/8, so a difference of 3/4 of an inch.

A quick spin around in the yard revealed that I had cured the problem. The tire scrub was completely gone!  It was now 9 AM and had warmed up to 40 F so I decided to bundle up for a quick trail ride to see how the new tire worked.  I really could not tell any difference in grip, but you have to realize, the front tire on a recumbent is very lightly loaded. I went for a slightly longer ride today, riding about 4 miles total in an hour and a half.  That gives you an idea of my speed but I did have to cross several logs that have recently fallen across the trail. I did not even attempt to ride across them as they were about a foot in diameter.  I also took my camera along and took a few more pics of the Bumble Beast.  But first, here is the obligatory photo of the bent in front of the garage door.

Garage door view...

 taking a break on the trail

the view from the front of the Bumble Beast (that's the holler in the background)

drive side view of the Bumble Beast

And for good measure I took one last photo and this time got the drive side.  I just realized all my previous photos were from the other side (oops, forgot the one earlier in front of the garage). I also took the time to measure the length of the bike and she measures 8 ft 2 inches from end to end.  This does make a difference out on the trail and I quickly found several places where I had to be very careful threading my way between trees and around turns.  There are several steep section on this trail and I ended up walking the Bumble Beast a little more than I would have on the MTB but when I got home I felt great. This same ride is OK on my MTB but my rump is usually letting me know its displeasure by the time I get home.

Learn something new every day

Yep, the 26 x 2.35 is at least an inch taller than the 26 x 1.75

 I can check that one off the list for today at least.  It has to do with bike wheels, or more precisely, how spokes are mounted.  I'll explain here shortly, but first, I took the Bumble Beast for a short ride Friday afternoon on a trail I had ridden regularly on the Komodo.  I wanted to get an honest idea of how the bent would do on terrain I am familiar with.  I was impressed with how well the bike handled, especially going down hill.  It does exhibit a little more wheel flop than I am accustomed to with the Cafe and Tour Easy. But then again, both these bikes have a 20 inch front wheel, and I have never ridden them on rough terrain at such slow speeds.  But what really got my attention was that when I turned the wheels sharply I would scrub the tire when I peddled.  And of course this shows up the most when climbing.  The tire scrub did not really slow me down, but it was aggravating.  I made it just a few feet shy of where I usually have to bail on the MTB, but I attribute a lot of that to getting used to riding a bent off road.  So today, between church services, I decide to do the same ride again.  My results were pretty much the same, but I actually made it a little further up the same hill.  However, one thing was obvious, the tire scrub was just unacceptable.  Shorter crank arms would cure that but at some expense, so I decided that for now a smaller wheel on the front should do the trick.  Just to prove my theory, I rode on home and pulled the front wheel (26 x 1.75) from the Dynamic and held it beside the 26 x 2.35 wheel that is on the Bumble Beast now. Sure enough the Dynamik wheel was about an inch shorter.  Oh and BTW,  my Dynamik has rim brakes, but I figured I could test my theory without the use of front brakes.   OK, let's mount it up right quick and take the bike for another spin.  However, unbeknownst to me, the spokes down near the hub on a wheel made for rim brakes are much wider then those on a bike with disk brakes.  In other words, once the wheel was on I noticed it wouldn't turn.  I took a  look and sure enough, the part of the brake that mounts to the fork was actually sitting slightly inside 2 spokes.  It's a good thing I just didn't hop on and take off as I probably would have bent or broke a spoke or tore the fork mounted part of the brakes somehow.  Anyways, I have a smaller tire 26 x 2.1  MTB tire and will mount it on the disk brake rim tomorrow and see if I have complete clearance. If that don't work I have a spare 26 x 1.75 that I am quite certain will work.

Introducing the Bumble Beast

Jamis Komodo  donor bike

My friend pretending to be hard at work

I present "The Bumble Beast"

Yours truly on the Bumble Beast

Inaugural ride (Max went with me)

I won't write about recumbents all the time but I just finished building my first off road recumbent so I'm a little excited.   Actually, I had a friend helping me and he probably did more of the work building the bike up from a bare frame.  But this is more of the story of how the bike (The Bumble Beast) came to be.  I've been riding recumbents for 5 years now, but so far, all my riding has been on the road.  The same friend that helped me build the Bumble Beast convince me that riding a mountain bike was fun so I bought one last fall.  I did like the fact that I could ride it in the winter since I was usually not traveling over 10 mph and most of the time was going even slower than that.  However, after an hour I was always ready to get off the bike for the same reason I don't ride my road bike more than an hour.   The final straw was when I had a wreck this spring and broke my collar bone.  I was probably pushing 15 mph on a pretty fast downhill section of trail I had ridden dozens of times but on this day a vine hanging in the trail caused me to swerve.  I knew there was a log just ahead but it never occurred to me that I might not be able to find my line quickly enough after dodging the vine.  In fact, I only clipped the very end of the log, but it would not have mattered if I hit it in the middle or at the very end, the results would be the same, me flying over the handlebar and crashing down hard on the other side. It felt like the crash happened in slow motion.  I knew I hit hard because I saw stars and heard birds chirping just like on the cartoons but I was not sure if I was seriously hurt or not.  However, after sitting on the ground a few minutes and thinking I might pass out I decided to see if I could ride my bike home.  It became immediately apparent that I could not use my right arm and riding back up the steep hill was out of the question. I was only about 2 miles from home by trail but a side trail led to the road  and I managed to push my bike the half mile out to the road and was then able to gingerly ride on home.  I'm lucky I was not injured worse because I usually carry my phone with me but this was only going to be a quick exercise ride and I left it at home.  Long story short, I needed an off road recumbent.

Building the Bumble Beast was a pretty straightforward affair.  I found a bare Bacchetts Bella frame for sale and bought it in December of 2012. The Bacchetta Bella is a 26 inch rear 20 inch front tire recumbent built extra strong for touring duties.  However, these same qualities had led another off road recumbent enthusiast to choose this frame for building his off road bent (Redzilla).  I basically followed his example except I went without any type of suspension.  I basically used the parts from my hard tail MTB (Jamis Komodo) except for the front fork which had a much to short steerer tube  If you look at the frame of the Bella it is obvious that it uses a fork with a long steerer tube.  Anyways, I needed a fork that would let me install a 26 inch MTB tire (usually pretty wide to boot) and also let me use disk brakes.  I ended up using a Surly fork that was intended for the 26 inch wheel, disk brake equipped version of the Long Haul Trucker.  I also ended up needed a different front derailleur so called Bacchetta and got the one that comes on the Bella. I used a Rans riser bar and the Rans Chopper handlebar along with a couple of Rans idlers.

I took the seat from my Bacchetta Cafe so that eliminated a huge expense but I really need to find a seat for the Cafe now.  For you guys (and gals) who like numbers here is the breakdown of what it cost to build this bike. I am including the cost of the Jamis Komodo since I used most of the parts from it but I did buy it at half price from Jenson USA,  However, this was pretty much a wash as it would have cost at least as much to buy all the parts I moved from it to my off road bent. I'm not sure exactly what I paid for the Jamis but for the rest I have receipts.  I included the cost of shipping where applicable.

$331  Bacchetta Bella Frame
$350 Jamis Komodo MTB
$100  Surly Fork with 400 mm steerer tube
$40 Cane Creek Headset
$26 Rans Forged Riser
$23 Rans Headset Adjuster Clamp
$8 Rans  Post clamp
$76 Rans 3-way Chopper Handlebar
$46 Rans  Single Forward Idler Assembly ($23 each, I needed 2)
$48 Bacchetta Microshift FD-R439 Front Derailleur
$71 new cables and labor for LBS to install cables
 $16 two cheap walmart 8 speed chains (takes 2.5 chains for this and most bents)
----------------------
$1112 Total Cost. 

Note to wife:  I know this seems pretty expensive, but I am doing it for my health honey, and considering that a new Bella runs $1800 and a similar off road bent (the Lightfoot Ranger) runs $2375 I don't think I did too bad. I do think I would like to add a triple at some point and if I do it will have shorter crank arms.The 175 mm crank arms do scrub the tires when I turn sharp  The double crankset that came on the Jamis is geared very low so I am spinning out after hitting about 15 mph.  If I had the triple I could also use another set of tires (more road oriented)  and basically have 2 bikes in one.  Ideally the tires would be mounted on another whellset so I would not have to change the tires when I wanted to switch

Reminiscing

Ever remember something that happened a long time ago that really was not a big event in your life and for no apparent reason you can think of.  However, when you think of it with such a vivid recollection, it makes you wonder if there was more to it.  I had just such an experience a few days ago.   Maybe it was due to a recent death in a family that I consider close friends?  Who knows?  Anyways, the event (if you could call it that) was watching a movie with my Grandmaw.  The movie was "The Villain" and to tell the truth, I don't remember much about the movie. In fact, I could not remember the title, so that made finding it harder, I do remember that it starred Arnold Scharzenegger so I finally used IMDb and typed in True Lies, then went to the cast and clicked on Arnold's name and saw the list of movies he was in and thus found it.  I was surprised it was made in 1979.  Not because the time frame seems wrong or anything like that, but the fact that I watched it with Grandmaw and spent the night.  And the reason this seems off is I don't recall spending the night with her a whole lot after I was out of high school, and it would have been 1980 or 81 when it was released on t.v.  But now that I have found it and read the reviews, I guess my taste in movies at that time was not that great.  It got terrible reviews.  But then again, I never have seemed to like the popular movies, tending to gravitate towards lesser known or at least smaller box office hits. One of my all time favorite movies is "The Man From Snowy River" and it was just a so so movie according to the experts.

But back to my reminiscing. I remember that Grandmaw got to laughing so hard that she turned red. I was a little worried that she might stop breathing.  And I'm not sure if it was her laughter that made me laugh so much, but I do remember laughing a lot myself.  I've seen her do this before so I was not that worried but I do recall telling her she might orta git up and walk around a little. Grandmaw passed away many years ago but other than my parents, she was probably one of if not the most influential people in my life.  She had a way of finding the bright side of nearly every situation.  She also loved to cook and I loved to eat so that may have been part of it.  I remember going fishing with her and she was always pretty serious when it came to fishing. She would tell me, "you're scarring all the fish off acting like that" (me running around being a kid) and when I would pause long enough to actually fish a little, "your never gona catch anything beatin the water with you fishin pole like that".  Right now I would just love to be able to go fishin with her one more time, or watch a movie with her, or eat some of her fried fish and hush puppies. If you're lucky enough to still have your grandparents with you, please find the time to tell them how much you appreciate and love them.  

My evolution from regular bikes to recumbents

Bacchetta Cafe, my first recumbent

the Trek 520

the Easy Racer Tour Easy

and finally, my Rans Dynamik

Before I say anything, let's get one thing straight, I'm not here to convert anyone to recumbents.  Yes, they are vastly superior to regular bikes... LOL ...but if you are comfortable on a regular bike then more power to you.  In other words, this is just my story... YMMV

 I remember having a couple of bikes as a kid, but they were second hand department store bikes bikes (nothing wrong with that).  I also had a bad  habit of destroying them jumping a small stream that ran across the pasture behind our house.  Then from around age of 16 (yep, you guessed it, driving age) to 44 I pretty much forgot about bikes.   However, my knees were getting to where running hurt them and weekend pick up basketball games were torture on them.  I needed to find a better way to get back and then stay in shape.  I had a friend get into road biking and upon his advice (and insistence) I bought my first real bike in 2006 at the tender age of 44. It was a Giant OCR 3. I also talked my wife into getting a bike the same day, a Giant Cypress comfort bike.   I started out with short rides of 5 to 10 miles, but was soon going 30 miles or more.  The limiting factor in my distance was my discomfort on the saddle.  I had my bike fitted when I bought it and read a lot of things online about how to get more comfortable.   I don't guess it would be considered a professional fitting, but the salesman was knowledgeable and helped me adjust the seat and handlebars etc. Anyways, I rode all summer wearing those padded bike shorts I despised but never was very comfortable. I tried a couple of different saddles and spent countless hours reading bikeforums.net on all threads related to bike saddle comfort.  Of course in my reading I found out that steel bikes are smoother riding than aluminum ones so I bought a used Trek 520 in the fall of 07.  I rode it a lot, even taking a possum for a ride once (I call it my possum tour).  It was slightly more comfortable then the OCR  but I was still in search of that perfect saddle. I finally settled on a moon saddle: read here if you think I'm making this stuff up...

Then I saw a recumbent or read about them somewhere on the net. I mentioned them to the friend who had talked me into getting a road bike and he agreed that a more comfy ride would be nice.  Only one problem, there were no recumbent dealers in our area.   After a bit of research we found a recumbent dealer in Birmingham Al and went down to test ride a couple and see what the fuss was all about.  We were both shaky on starts and wobbly at slow speed (the test area was hilly) but sold on the comfort. About a month later in December of 2007 we both bought one.  He got a Rans V-Rex and I bought a Bacchetta Cafe. I will admit that at first I was not sure if I had made the right decision. I live in a hilly area and was still wobbly on long climbs. However, I stayed with it and by the spring of 2008 I was doing great and never looked back. I sold the ORC but kept the 520. I have since put an SMP saddle on it but still don't like to ride it over an hour so just ride it for short trips up to Grant. Perfect for that since it is about 10 miles round trip and I usually have a reason to get off the bike mid ride (picking up something at the store etc).

As much as I liked the Cafe, I wanted a bike I could put a front fairing on for winter riding.  I kept reading about a certain recumbent called the Easy Racer Tour Easy on various recumbent forums (mostly BentRiderOnline).  The only problem was, a new ones cost around 2400 bucks and there were no dealers close by.  However, in the summer of 09 I found a used one with a fairing for sale for $1200 near Birmingham so I bit the bullet and purchased it.  The ride of the Tour Easy is hard to beat.  It is slightly more comfortable and faster than the Cafe and with the fairing it is much nicer to ride in cold weather.  However, I now take the fairing off in the summer and ride it year round.

I have to admit that in some ways, I missed riding my regular road bike.  I'm not as nimble on my recumbents and I still find my road bike climb better (please do not say this on a recumbent forum).  I also like that  a road bike can be ridden hands free. Anyways, I kept reading about another type of bike called a Crank Forward which claimed to be the best of both worlds.  As in comfy like a recumbent but nimble like a road bike.  Of course the one I set my heart on was pretty expensive and again, there were no dealers nearby.  However, through the power of the internet, I found a Rans Dynamik frame for sale in Colorado.  BTW, having it shipped was not all that expensive.  I think shipping came to about $60,  but of course this was without wheels.  I used the parts from my wife's Cypress (a long story that to this day still gets me in trouble).  I now ride my crank forward when I'm riding alone, but with the fat tires I have on it, it will not keep up with most recumbents, so, when I go for a ride with my recumbent riding buddies it stays at home.

Then in the fall of 2011 I bought a mountain bike. I enjoyed riding it, but like my road bike, after an hour I was ready to get off. I wrecked it in the spring of 2012 and broke my collar bone. I have ridden it a few times since my recovery but now feel unsafe on it, like I'm going to endo (go over the handlebars) at any moment going down anything very steep. So...I kept seeing threads on BentRiderOnline about off road bents and I kept an eye out for a possible bent (frame or complete bike). I snagged a Bella frame and am in the process of building an off road bent (The Bumble Beast).  I'm sure I'll have more to say about it later.  (note to wife: do not read past this point)  I'm also sure I will eventually own another trike. I did own one briefly, but it was too small and low to the ground for my taste.  Fortunately, there are several options that address all my concerns.  Can you say Greenspeed Magnum, ICE Adventure HD  or TerraTrike Rambler!  Maybe a retirement present to myself!  However, before I get put out to pasture, there are a couple of fast recumbents I'd like to try.  Problem is, all three (OK, more than a couple) are pretty expensive.  But if anyone has a Rans Xstream, Cruzbike Vendetta or MetaBike MetaPhysic they are sick of just let me know and I'd be happy to take it off your hands.

One excuse is as good as another

And by that I mean, most of the things we do in life (or have happen to us) are the results of our own actions, but we often make excuses for why certain things remain undone or do not turn out like we planned.  A perfect example for me is my weight.  It was easy to stay in shape up until I hit about 30.  Then I slowly started adding on the lbs.  By the time I hit 40 it was official, I was fat.   However, I carried it well, or at least that's what folks would tell me, so it was not that big a deal and I did not  become obsessed about it.  However, since I like to ride my recumbent up and down the mountain and also enjoy backpacking, keeping my weight in check would be advantageous, not to mention the fact that it is just healthier.   And here are where the excuses come in.  Like I mentioned earlier, I would have folks say, well you don't look fat. In fact I took pride in asking folks how much they thought I weighed.  I would get answers like 200 or 210 lbs  when In fact I weighed about 235 #.  And now that I'm up to around 250 # I still get similar answers, only now it is you don't look that fat...and they usually guess somewhere around 230 #.  Another excuse I like to use is my wife. We like to go out and eat on Friday or Saturday night.  We will usually order something different and then share.  As a perfect example, we went to eat on our birthday last Thursday night (we share the same birthday).  She ordered shrimp and grits and I ordered a stake.  I cut her off a medium sized piece of my steak and she said, that's too much.  She cut about half of it off and handed it back.  She then proceeds to put well over half of her food on my plate. Another excuses is that the little ole ladies at church cook way too good!  When we have a fellowship meal after services I have a habit of eating 2 plates full of food and then a plate full of desert after that.  At one time a lady (now deceased) would make 2 strawberry pies, and would always announce, now one of those is for Coy.  I honestly never did eat the whole thing but I would often eat at least half.

Along with over eating I also make excuses for not exercising.  I like to get out and ride my recumbent or walk to the holler, but often times I will let 2 or 3 days go by without a good walk or ride.  One excuses is my job.  After working a 24 hour shift, I come home and take a long nap and then get up around noon.  I will then laze around the house the rest of the day.  And because if this I wont sleep good this night and will often take a long nap the second day I'm off.  Another excuse is the weather. If it is raining I probably wont ride or walk, but I also let the cold or the wind stop me, especially from riding.  I do walk more in the winter so at least I don't get completely out of shape, but every spring that first ride back up the mountain is a killer.   I also watch way too much football and TV in general.  Perhaps to make up for the fact that we did not have a TV until I was about 14.   But even so,  I remember a time when there would only be a couple of Bama football games televised each year.  That meant I usually spent Saturdays fishing, hiking or doing some type of outdoor activity.  Now there are usually only a couple of games a year that are not televised and even those are usually available on pay per view.  And then there is NASCAR.  Before I became a fan I would usually play basketball or something similar after morning services. Now I come home, plop down on the couch and watch the race.  Last year I bought a rower with the plan being to use it while watching the race or a ball games.   I used it pretty regularly for about a month but here lately I've noticed it seems to serve only one purpose.  I will say it makes a pretty good coat rack. And besides, the treadmill in the bedroom was already full.

Life after 50 (or in my case 51)

Since yesterday was my birthday  (I turned 51) I guess it is a good time to take inventory of my life and what lies down the road (provided I don't kick the bucket anytime soon).  First of all, I'm relieved that I still feel relatively young!  Well, my knees do act up in cold weather, but I am able to get out and do most of the things I always enjoyed doing.   I distinctly remember as a young feller that folks around 30 seemed old. Then as I myself approached that age, it was folks around 50 that seemed old.  By then I figured that if I reached this age (around 50) I would start to feel old. Thankfully I was wrong. It's folks around 90 that are truly old...

Well, so much for taking inventory or looking ahead.  That takes too much thought. I will say that I am now realizing that time is the one commodity that should never be taken for granted. And along those lines, my health should be nurtured as much as possible.  So looking down the road I would like to improve my health (sounds a lot like my New Years Resolution every year....)  I do believe that being healthy will improve the quality of my life if not quantity. I will be able to do things for myself instead of depending on others and hopefully I can help others when needed

Getting Acquainted

What is this blog about you may be asking.  Well, to tell the truth, I'm not quite sure myself.  I want it to be interesting but keep it real. It will be about different aspects of my life as my wife and I attempt to become more self sufficient (homestead type stuff)  and hobbies I enjoy, including but not limited too my recumbent bikes, backpacking, fishing and photography. It will also be a place where I can share my thoughts (like anyone cares...) on a particular matter.  I probably will stay away (mostly) from religious or political matters because while both are important, they deserve a more in depth look than I could give.  I will inject that on a personal note, I consider myself a conservative. I was raised in a rural area, went to church with my family regularly and continue to do so to this day.  I firmly believe that if I put God first in my life all other things will fall into their proper place.